Táltos of Godwhip

"If you get lost here, you are worse than a headless ghost." Razvan chuckled as he led his team into a large hall. "Alright people, today we are going to explore this room." He gave the order, then grabbed Rahul by the arm and started walking into the complete darkness.

"Cheater. He sees." Citar shook his head, then picked up the small eternal lantern he had been given and started towards one of the walls. Cave exploration has become an annual routine for the team. So everyone except Rahul knew what to do. "Lynx." Citar clicked his tongue and the lynx appeared next to his feet.

"Okay. Let's go and see if there's anything interesting on this wall." The Bolacsuk boy sighed. "Well, it's not like I'm hoping, we never find anything, but still. "He said and the words just flowed out of him, as always.

"Would you shut up? You're starting to annoy me." His soul creature scolded him.

"Yes!" Citar chuckled to himself, as it was very rare for his soul creature to speak. So they walked along the wall in silence for a while. From the corner of his eye, Citar saw several small points of light that belonged to his companions. But suddenly he saw something in the corner of his eye. "Lynx, did you see it too?"

"What?" His soul creature stopped.

"It looked like Wandi... But what is he looking for there?" The boy asked and without even bothering with the worried soul creature, he started towards a side passage.

"Citar! You shouldn't..." The lynx started, and the boy waved.

"If you don't like it, you can leave!" He cut in and the animal really disappeared. "Nice, what did I thought." He rolled his eyes, but his attention was quickly distracted by something. "Wandi!" He hurried after the figure straight in the direction of a dim light source.

Meanwhile, in another part of the cave, the heir of the Vojk tribe was staring at the walls with a bored look. He never liked these tasks, he is better in the open air than underground, but if the boss says he has to come, then he comes. Although he would not need the light of the eternal lamp, he still held the object burning with a blue flame in front of him.

He is not a man of words and has never been someone from whom much can be gleaned, for which there are several reasons, which he would prefer not to think about, but that is life and he learned this quite early. So he just tolerated it in silence and scanned the brown walls to see if he could find anything interesting.

But instead of finding something on the wall, he found something, or rather someone, in one of the passages. And this someone was none other than Citar. At first, Wandi didn't even understand how the boy got there, when he clearly remembered that he saw the Bolacsuk boy go in the other direction.

However, he saw the figure again, so he finally decided that it was better to bring the giddy boy back before he could get himself into some big trouble that he wouldn't be able to get out of on his own, as the past years' experience has shown. Walking through the dark corridor, the boy took out his special weapons, the two swords, which, if necessary, can be used to make a large double-edged sword, and thus proceeded towards a point of light.

In front of Citar and Wandi, the small spots of light became bigger and bigger and when they reached them, they found themselves in a huge room where it was almost daylight. However the word room was not the best, for what they saw. It was more of a huge hallway with high rock walls, although on one side of the boys the wall didn't reach the ceiling. And the corridor in front of them was not just a simple stone corridor, but rather...

"A training ground?" Wandi tilted his head curiously to the side when he saw the various recesses, puzzles and tasks placed on the climbing wall. His assessment was correct, this was very much a training ground, just not the one he was used to. This track compared to...

"What the fene is this wild maiden?!" Exclaimed Citar, when he saw in front of him the poles placed on spinning columns, lava trenches, and the climbing wall, which already looked scary from there. However, his cry had positive effects.

"Citar?" Shouted Wandi, which made the Bolacsuk boy turn in surprise to his right, where the stone wall did not reach the ceiling.

"Wandi? Are you in the wall?" The boy went to the wall.

"You're a fucking idiot!" The other scolded him. "This is probably only one room with a very high wall. What's in front of you?" He asked Citar, who grimaced.

"Lava, so much that even a wraith could easily drown in it." He put his hands on his hips. "And you?"

"Trenches, something like a puzzle, and a wall with holes in it." The Bolacsuk boy got the answer.

"That sounds like..."

"Yes. I think we ran into each other's tribe's training ground." The quieter half of the pair interrupted the boy.

"Listen, Wandi, there's something wrong..." Citar began and swallowed a big one.

"What?" Came the question.

"The way back has disappeared for me." Citar blinked in the direction he came from. At the statement, Wandi also turned around and found grumpily that the way back had disappeared for him as well. "Does that mean I have to go through with this?" Citar looked at the training ground with terrified eyes.

"Yes," Wandi stated.

"How in the fene is it possible to go through this?!" The Bolacsuk boy spread his arms out.

"What is the first obstacle?" Wandi asked, while he grabbed his forehead and started to press it.

"A lava trench about three big steps wide." Citar tried to properly measure the distance.

"You are lucky." Wandi breathed a sigh of relief.

"What does that mean?" Citar was completely taken aback and turned towards the wall on the right, even though he knew he wouldn't see his friend.

"That's the entry level." He received an answer that did not calm him down a bit. Everyone in Madüjawr knows that the Vojk tribe has the best endurance, which for them is a simple jog around a lake, for others it is equivalent to a marathon.

"How am I supposed to go through this anyway?" Citar swallowed hard, as he realized that the only way to get out of here was to fight his way through the training ground.

"Don't worry, I'll guide you. Just do exactly what I say and when I say it!" At first, Citar only blinked at the command, but finally took a deep breath.

"All right!" He straightened himself out.

"Back to the wall." Wandi said, and with Citar, he also leaned against the wall at the place of the former entrance. "You gain momentum when I say now, jump! Let me know when you go." Both boys prepared to run.

"Going!" Shouted Citar and although he didn't see it, his friend also left at the same time.

"Now!" As soon as the command left Wandi's mouth, Citar jumped and landed easily. "Two steps to the right!" The next command came, followed by several similar ones. Thus, Citar soon got further and further ahead on the training ground. "Rest." Wandi squealed as he hit the ground behind the holed wall.

"Rest?" Citar panted, leaning on his knees.

"Yes, you have two minutes." He got the answer.

"Don't you need help? We need a soul creature for our course, when you've guided me through, I'll send Lynx over to help." Citar, who had previously forgotten thanks to the adrenaline, remembered that his friend would have to fight the Bolacsuk training ground.

"It's unnecessary, I'm about to finish." Wandi moved his arms.

"How?" Citar blinked, as he found the matter unimaginable.

"I simply jumped over the obstacles. Get ready, Citar it's coming." It was enough for him to say so much and the Bolacsuk boy's muscles tensed and he completely forgot his surprise. "Jump!" He received the next command and moved immediately.

On the other side of the stone wall, Wandi jumped over obstacles like children over puddles. Meanwhile, he walked ower his own beginner's training course out loud. Until his brain presented him with the image of the task after the next obstacle.

"Shit!" He muttered under his breath, his hands clenched into fists and he closed his eyes. He had no choice but to break the rule or his friend would become a pancake. So he took a deep breath and released his kí. "Turn left!" He shouted the instruction for the next obstacle, but in the meantime he had already pushed himself off the ground and jumped straight to the top of the rock wall on his left side.

Citar stepped to the left as ordered, away from a very treacherous piece of rock that would have broken his leg if he had stayed still. He grinned with satisfaction and was already waiting for the next instruction, when he heard a rattling sound in front of him, he raised his head and found himself facing a huge piece of wood.

"Citar!" He heard the sound, but not completely, he froze. And in the next moment, someone put his arm around his waist, pressed his hand on his head, and he only felt that he was hit by something and as if he was spread out on the ground, and the person who jumped on him fell next to him. He blinked a couple of times, and he thought he saw his friend's face.

"Wandi?" He moaned, but he didn't have time for more. He wanted to ask what had happened to the boy's eyes, which now seemed to be pinkish purple instead of the usual brown. However, the question stuck in him, just as the possible answer stuck in his friend. The couple's thoughts were covered by a pleasant darkness.